


Pawns

by Vespiqueen



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Creepypasta, Halloween, Sinnoh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27206467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vespiqueen/pseuds/Vespiqueen
Summary: While attempting to do research on depression in Pokémon, Professor Rowan suggests to Gary that he researches mental health in humans first. This suggestion leads him to an eerie manor in Snowpoint city.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 18





	Pawns

Gary Oak had never been a big fan of snow. He grew up in the country town of Pallet where winter’s consisted of temperatures in the low 50’s at the most. The pastures would turn brown as they starved of fertility and sometimes they would get harsh winds, but there was never a snowflake in sight. Now, here he was trudging through blankets of the damn stuff. He thought two layers of clothing would be enough to keep him warm in Snowpoint’s extreme weather but boy was he mistaken. 

He mentally cursed himself for making the trip to the isolated city in the first place. He had no desire to be there but what choice did he have? Kissaki Manor was the only facility that responded to his inquiry about interviewing residents, while all of the other facilities either gave excuses about HIPPA or ignored his emails altogether.

Gary had been doing research as an apprentice to Professor Rowan for about 8 months now. Through the entirety of his apprenticeship, he had never once visited Snowpoint City. He did get close while on an excavation that led him to route 217 a few months before, and that very trip is what led to his eventual return to the area. That trip was almost as miserable as his current one. Besides being too damn cold, he also had a strange encounter with some Pokemon. While on route 217, he noticed a couple of Sneasel acting out of the oridinary. Sneasel are mischievous Pokémon by nature - they’re playful and energetic but there was something off about the Sneasel he encountered that day.

The memory of the encounter was distracting him from the freezing weather. As he slowly made his way up the hill that led to the facility, he reminded himself of the purpose of his visit and that his love for Pokémon outweighed his hatred of the cold. 

Those Sneasel showed signs of depression - something he wasn’t aware that Pokémon could experience. He did a little research and found old case files on the matter, but there was barely anything to go off of, let alone any information that was up to date. He consulted Professor Rowan who suggested that he studied mental health in humans to get a better understanding of the subject. If he was being honest, he thought it was a lousy idea. Gary prided himself in his Pokémon research and quite frankly, he could give a crap about studying humans but he obliged as to not upset his mentor.

He could finally see Kissaki Manor in the distance and was taken back by the sight. He wasn’t expecting much, just what you would normally expect a nursing home to look like.  
However, this building looked like it came straight out of the Addam’s family movie. He immediately recognized the gothic style Victorian home from all of the Better Homes and Garden magazines that his grandfather would read. All of the windows and doors had a pointed arch above them and the house was painted a deep violet color. He knew this nursing home specialized in taking in psychiatric patients but he couldn’t have predicted that the place would resemble an actual 1950’s asylum. He was honestly expecting a honchkrow to pop out at him at any second.

‘Remind me not to send Gramps to this place,’ he thought to himself. He warmed his hands with his breathe before knocking on the door. He was surprised at how quickly his knocks were answered by a woman who was noticeably short in stature. She wore black scrubs and had a tired look on her face.

“Can I help you?” She asked.

“Ah, yes. My name is Gary Oak. I’m a researcher and I emailed the facility last week about interviewing a few of the psych patients.”

The woman didn’t respond, instead she just opened the door wider as a way of inviting him in. He was a little surprised that she didn’t ask for any sort of verification but Gary took the invitation and followed her down a long corridor that eventually led to double doors. On the doors, there was a sign that read “Stop! ONLY staff and patients allowed access after this point. NO VISITORS.”

Gary wasn’t normally one to get nervous, but this place was giving him the creeps and that warning sign was no help. He didn’t want to sound inconsiderate but he was sure the lighting in the hallways were too dim for a population that is mostly considered to be visually impaired.

They finally arrived in a large room full of adults of all kind. Gary was expecting most of the patients to be elderly but was surprised to see a few patients who couldn’t be older than their late 40’s at the most. Some of the residents were socializing with each other while others were watching tv or participating in other activities amongst themselves.

“Pick your poison,” the nurse said before quickly ushering off. 

Gary surveyed the room before his eyes landed on an elderly woman who was knitting near a large window. He took note of how the blinds were closed and figured it didn’t matter since Snowpoint clearly didn’t get much sunshine.

As Gary approached her, he felt the nerves in his stomach bubbling beneath the surface. It suddenly occurred to him that he never once took the time to plan the actual interviews. Just how does one interview someone about their mental health? This was a touchy subject and he wasn’t sure how the woman would respond. She could be a paranoid schizophrenic or have bipolar disorder or something besides depression which was the only topic that he was interested in discussing. One thing he did not want to do was offend anyone. But just how was he supposed to know which patient to interview?

“What’s got you so down darling?” The question from the elderly woman caught the young researcher off guard. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even realize that he had wondered right in front of her.

“Oh..um..hi Ma’am. My name is Gary Oak. I’m a Pokémon researcher.” Gary immediately reached out a hand for a greeting and was thankful his country manners were so ingrained in him. The woman shook his hand and gestured for him to sit down in the chair next to her.

“Well it is a pleasure to meet you Gary.” The woman gave him a warm smile that calmed his nerves.

Gary was lucky enough to breeze through the interview. Although depression wasn’t her chief medical complaint, it was a side effect of her actual diagnosis. Gary was able to get the answers he wanted and in a timely manner. Thank God too, because Gary didn’t want to spend too much time in this place. As he got up from his chair and made his way towards the door, he couldn’t help but notice a flash of orange.

‘Yeah this place is definitely getting to my head,’ he said to himself and immediately shook off the intruding thoughts. He sighed as he reached the hallway and realized he wasn’t paying enough attention on his way to the room. Now, he wasn’t quite sure how to get back to lobby. He paused and took a moment to try and retrace his steps.

While contemplating which direction to go in, Gary heard a whimper from behind him. The researcher leaped in surprise and quickly turned around to face the intruder. He was surprised to see a Growlithe. So that’s what that orange blob was.

The Growlithe stared at Gary for a moment before walking down the southern end of the hallway. Gary was no stranger to Growlithe speak since he had a Growlithe of his own. He knew this Growlithe wanted Gary to follow him, but he remained frozen in place. A part of him wondered if the Pokémon was just trying to help him find his way out, but the other part of him knew better to follow a random Pokémon in this strange place. Just why was there a Pokémon in a nursing home anyway?

The Growlithe stopped moving when he realized that Gary wasn’t following behind. He turned around to face the trainer and gave him a sad look while whimpering. He then walked up to Gary and pulled on his pant leg.

“Oh crap.” Gary said aloud as he obliged to the Pokémon’s wishes despite his instincts telling him otherwise.

He followed the Pokémon down the hallway for a few minutes until they reached the end of a stair case. Okay entering this creepy looking place was one thing, and following a random Pokémon was another, but he was sure going up this old spiral staircase would be a guaranteed way to die if this was a horror movie.

“Not happening,” Gary said to the Growlithe who just whimpered in response. He couldn’t explain it but the Growlithe was asking him for help. Gary had enough experience with Pokémon to know when something was wrong. Even though his brain screamed at him to turn around, his heart couldn’t ignore the urge to help the Pokémon. 

As Gary followed Growlithe up the staircase, he couldn’t help but notice how dusty the railing was. He was sure this staircase hadn’t been used in a while. 

They arrived at a room that Gary quickly realized was the attic by the shape of the door. Gary hesitated on opening it but Growlithe once again tugged at his pant leg. “Jesus do you have puppies in there or something?”

When Gary entered the room, he put his hand on the wall and felt around for a light switch but his fingers found nothing. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flashlight that he quickly shined around the room. He was surprised that there were no baby Growlithes but instead, there was an Abra in the corner of the room. He could instantly tell that the Abra was hurt and he and Growlithe hastily made their way towards the injured Pokemon.

The Abra had visible redness on his leg. Gary was no Pokémon doctor but he figured the redness was caused by some sort of sprain. 

His first instinct was to contact a real Pokémon doctor but when he pulled out his poke gear, he was disappointed to see the x’s that indicated no service. “Of fucking course,” he cursed under his breath.

Gary looked back at Growlithe who was looking up at him with pleading eyes. “Don’t worry buddy, I’m gonna find a way to help your friend,” he said in a reassuring tone.

He grabbed his backpack and shined his light inside, hoping to find something to be of use. 

As he shuffled through items and placed them on the floor, he noticed something bright and yellow out of the corner of his eye. Half expecting to see another Pokémon, he quickly shined his flashlight on the object. The object was too small to be a Pokémon and Gary reached for it to get a better look.

He was easily distracted from his task of helping Abra as he tossed the yellow object around in his hand. He couldn’t help but notice that something was familiar about it.

Before he could piece the puzzle together, Growlithe once again whimpered to get Gary’s attention. “Right, sorry buddy. Let me get back to looking.” Gary began putting the object back when a horrible realization came to him as soon as the object touched the floor.

That yellow jewel belonged to a Sneasel.

“What the-“

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence when Abra’s eyes began glowing red. 

Gary instantly turned towards Growlithe. “You fooled me!” Growlithe smirked in return.

“You fooled yourself.” The unknown voice came out nowhere and was deep and raspy. Gary had to rub his eyes to make sure that it wasn’t coming from one of the Pokémon. 

The researcher’s body began levitating in the air before the unknown voice spoke again. “You know, I truly expected better from the famous Professor Oak’s son.”

“Who are you!” Gary demanded.

The voice chuckled and then responded, “maybe this is why the old geezer pays more attention to that neighbor of your’s - Ash Ketchum, I believe?”

Gary ignored his question and responded with a question of his own, “What do you want from me?”

“I’m glad you asked,” the voice responded. “That Ash kid, he’s a character huh? Heard he’s one of the strongest trainers in the world.”

“Is this about Ash? Really?” Gary couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Here he was, levitating in the got damn air because of Ash fucking Ketchum.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where he’s at would you?” The voice interrogated.

Gary knew Ash had some enemies, he was always saving the world from evil so he was bound to piss a few people off along the way. He wasn’t about give away Ash’s whereabouts though. He would never purposely put a friend in danger. The researcher remained silent.

“Come on now kid, I’m just trying to do you a favor. With Ash out of the way, the people in Pallet would recognize you for your greatness. Don’t you think you deserve a little shine?” 

“Out of the way?” The words escaped Gary’s mouth before he could realize he was even responding. Tears came to his eyes at the thought of someone purposely harming his friend. 

“You gonna tell me or what?” Gary chose to remain the silent and the voice scoffed at him. 

“Pokémon master huh..” the voice pondered out loud.

“Abra.” The voice commanded before Gary’s body painfully slammed against the ground. 

The last image Gary saw before slipping into an unconscious state was that of an older man, probably in his forties. He had dark stubble on his face and a head of messy black hair. He looked strikingly familiar to Ash.


End file.
